A Lesson in Friendship
by dinocavallones
Summary: It's the difference between watching from the sidelines, and knowing what's happening on the field. Xanxus didn't think anyone else would understand why he was the way he was, but Chrome was more than willing to help change his mind. Friendship!X96


**Summary:** It's the difference between watching from the sidelines, and knowing what's happening on the field. Xanxus didn't think anyone else would understand why he was the way he was, but Chrome was more than willing to help change his mind. Friendship!X96

**AN:** this is, again, split up into different days. i can't seem to stop sending these people to varia headquarters. you know you would love it too. this is for great question's questionable crack pairings, and i'm starting to question a few things myself ~. i realize i don't have a very strong chrome muse because i don't use her often, so i might be a bit ooc. as for xanxus ... ... i'm not even going to comment. ooc might be there, just a warning.

**Disclaimed:** because if Katekyo Hitman Reborn belonged to me, it would be rated M for MATURE.

* * *

**A Lesson in Friendship**

Xanxus had to be the most difficult man to like. It was like there was going to be no such thing as love – even if it wasn't the romance kind of love – for this man. It was impossible. Chrome realized that after spending two minutes in the same room as him. The story behind this? It was complicated.

They thought Xanxus needed a woman in the Varia headquarter. That he was too lonely. That maybe he would possibly cheer up if there was some female company within his presence. So the Varia, excluding the boss and a certain boss-obsessed Lightning Guardian, decided to choose the kind-hearted, shy, little Mist Guardian of the Vongola, even if she was only thirteen. Sometimes, a kid did the best job. It probably wasn't a good idea to send Bel and Mammon to retrieve her from Kokuyo Land; the blond prince could not stop insulting and criticizing the lack of size, the filthiness, the small amount of light that streamed through the cracks, and, most of all, Ken's stench. The latter had not been impressed, and Mammon had to eventually worm in some compliments and a bit of money he was unwilling to part with in order for Chikusa and Ken to agree to let Chrome be taken for a few days.

"No one can harm her," Chikusa stated, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as his dull stare focused on the maniacal prince.

"Or you'll get what's comin' for ya!" Ken added in a warning snarl. He seemed most hesitant about the departure of Chrome.

"We're not a bunch of savages," Mammon reproached, though he made a little mental note in the corner of his thoughts to make sure no one would mistreat the girl. There was no fiber in his tiny body which wanted the male counterpart of the Mist Guardian to come and rescue her should she happen to suddenly become terrified during her stay in Varia headquarters.

"We'll take go~od care of her, ushishishi~" Bel snickered. Chrome automatically shied away form him and Ken let loose another protective snarl. It wasn't easy to forget the time when Bel had her tied up, but the blond seemed to have forgotten about that already. "Calm down, rabid commoner. You're almost worse than the other storm puppy."

"Stop making things worse. I'm not giving away any more money. Let's go." Mammon floated onto Bel's shoulder, and as the prince issued forth a majestic, languid wave, the two fled from the scene before the others could change their minds.

* * *

But even as the two arrived back to Varia headquarters, they were already starting to have their doubts.

"The prince has brought the girl~," Bel sang as he stepped into his boss's chamber. Xanxus was exactly how Chrome had last remembered him. Ebony black spikes of hair protruded from his head in all directions, and deep scars still adorned the side of his face, though some were fading. The Varia coat hung deftly on his broad shoulders, and the same raccoon tail and warm coloured feathers clung to his left shoulder. Yes, he was almost _exactly _how she had remembered him from the Mist Battle. Following Bel's call, the other Mafioso started to rush in to see.

"Oooh~, she's more adorable than when I last saw her," exclaimed Lussuria, clasping his hands together excitedly. He spun around to face her. "We're going to be best friends, dear, and we're going to have lots of fun dressing up. Say hello, Squ-chan~!"

There was a long silence, then:

"…Voi."

Lussuria let it pass; it was Squalo, after all.

"Levi?"

This one was rather immediate.

"I CAN'T ALLOW THIS! I WON'T!" Chrome jumped at the loudness of his voice. "Bossu doesn't need a girl! He needs me!"

"VOOOOOI, SHUT THE HELL UP, NOISY GIT!"

"You're one to say, commander, ushishishi~"

"Oh, you are all no help at all." Lussuria pouted disappointingly.

"Welcome to our humble abode," Mammon offered in his most sardonic tone. Bel just snickered quietly to himself as he waited for Xanxus's reaction, which he knew would be one worth waiting for.

Xanxus, for the whole time, had his elbow propped on the arm of his settee and his index finger prodding his temple as he examined Chrome from head to toe. Vibes of utter dislike leaked from the aura that shadowed the Varia boss, and two seconds after crimson eyes met violet, the girl immediately dropped her gaze to the ground. After casting a vague, disinterested glance at her, he turned his head to the side and muttered, "Get her out of my room." Taking hold of his whiskey bottle, he added a snarl, "I don't have time for scum like her."

Her feelings were not hurt, mainly because she had expected him to say that. However, pity for the scarred man lingered inside her heart. She knew that he wouldn't want anyone's pity though, least of all hers, so she tried to refrain herself from such ridiculous thoughts, only to have one even more incredulous to seep into the drawers of her mind.

_Perhaps he's like this because he has no friends._

Those deep, entrancingly dark eyes met hers again.

_Maybe he doesn't know the meaning of friends._

Xanxus raised the whiskey to his lips and he spoke behind the bottle, "What do you want."

Chrome gasped, startled out of her thoughts. Her violet eyes darted left to right and she suddenly realized that she was the only one left in the room, other than the Varia boss, of course; everyone else had gone. Hugging her trident close to her, she hastily backed up, only to have her back collide noisily into the closed door. No sooner did that happen, she whirled around and scurried out from the room.

* * *

As the day progressed on, Chrome realized there was really only one person she could room with, and that was Lussuria. As she plodded down the hallway, Bel managed to pass by and sneer at her, while giving her a few words of princely wisdom: "Never, ever, room with Lussuria if you want to remain a virgin". She quickly changed directions and headed for the living room, and started laying her futon down there. The hard, wooden ground was better than losing something she treasured. Bel seemingly decided to follow her.

"Do you like video games?"

Chrome glanced up at unruly blond strands of hair as Bel hovered over her. A sinister grin tugged at his lips, which caused Chrome to pull the trident close to her again. She shook her head diffidently.

Bel sauntered around the futon to set up the TV that was set across from her. "The Prince will teach you since he is bored ~."

It took a while for Chrome to get the hang of it, but even though she was losing every other game, Bel no longer seemed bored. In fact, he seemed to have a complacent smirk from winning so many matches in a day.

"Doesn't anyone … else … play with you?" she asked, her words forming slowly as she tried to concentrate on which buttons to press.

"Nah, Mammon has something to do, like counting his money."

"What about … _him_?"

Bel paused the game, propping his arm on the back of the couch. He crossed his legs daintily before replying, "Who? Boss?" His Cheshire grin widened even more if possible. "Bossu never plays with the prince~. He usually just holes up in his room, and never comes out. I would bring the game to him, but he's an ungrateful peasant and will throw it back at me." Chrome had a feeling that if his eyes were visible, they would have a mischievous glimmer flashing within them. "You want to play with him?"

"Eh? N-no…"

"Let's go, ushishishi~!" Grabbing onto her wrist, he yanked her out of the living room and dashed down the wide hallway. Chrome hoped that Bel wasn't going to do what she thought he was going to do. Unfortunately, that wasn't how things were going to work out today. The blond burst into the boss's chamber, hauling poor Chrome along with him. She could already sense a dangerous glower, full of death intent, on her, and as she glanced up, she realized why. Xanxus had been in the middle of changing when the two invaded his room; his shirt was half off. Bel must have realized his mistake because he skidded to a sudden halt, as if he had just noticed that his boss was half-naked. Chrome's jaw dropped in shock.

"Ah…"

"Uh, oh~" Bel enunciated slyly, slowly backing away as Xanxus narrowed his crimson eyes, as if doing that could incinerate the blood-thirsty blond. "Ushishishi, time to go." And the two quickly rushed out of the room. Chrome vowed never to listen to Bel again.

* * *

It was later at night, and Chrome had not seen Xanxus for the few hours that had passed. Levi, however, was depressingly drunk, even at the dinner table. Squalo glared at the Lightning Guardian with disgust.

"VOOI, WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DRUNK?"

Levi mumbled something back in return, his words slurring; they sounded suspiciously like, "I swear to drunk I'm not God!" Chrome bit her bottom lip apprehensively. Dinner back at Kokuyo Land wasn't even this noisy, even with Ken living with her.

Mammon poked at his food. "I've lost my appetite."

"Do you want motivation?" Bel asked, a meaningful grin spreading from ear to ear as he held up his knife with a sadistic air. Lussuria pulled a pouty frown, delicately tracing circles on the flamboyantly decorated tablecloth.

"But I spent so long making this for all of you!"

Squalo glanced at him, cold and dread evident in his silver eyes. "Voi, you made this?"

"Ye~es."

Without a second thought, the wooden chair screeched as Squalo shoved it back; he stood up, pushed his plate away, and said, "I'm ordering pizza."

"Ushishishi, I want some too~"

"I'll have to agree with Bel on this one." Mammon hopped off his chair and floated once again on top of Bel's head, knocking the prince's beloved crown askew. When the Arcobaleno did not apologize or make any notion of doing so, Bel reproachfully shook his head, forcing the other to jump off before reaching down and retrieving his silver crown from the ground. Chrome bit into her mashed potatoes and wondered what could possibly be wrong with the food. The Varia members were probably just being mean, like usual. She almost smiled at the drastically appalled look on Lussuria's face as everyone in the room left in a disorderly fashion. Now it was just her and Lussuria.

She abruptly realized the danger of the situation, and she hastily got to her feet.

"Mou, you're leaving me too?" The Sun Guardian batted his eyelashes at her. She had no idea what effect that was supposed to have on her, because she wasn't feeling guilty at all.

"I'm full," she provided as her excuse. They both looked at her plate, which had barely been touched. At the exact same time, her stomach had conveniently decided to growl. She winced, holding her stomach as she tried to muffle out the gurgles and protests from her suffering stomach. Lussuria eyed it carefully, pursing his lips as he tried deciding what to do. Why on earth was everyone scared of him? Was it not normal for people to have some sort of sick fetish for dead bodies? He thought it was perfectly okay. Reaching over and grabbing a plate from the edge of the table, he handed it to Chrome.

"Well, if you're not going to eat, at least give this to bossu. He always holes up in his room, which is a shame. If he ate my food, he would be able to have his sexiness multiplied by two." He gave a little dramatic sigh. "Just tell him that I made him steak. That should get him eating."

Chrome slightly doubted that, but she took the plate anyway. As she started to head out the door, she heard Lussuria call after her, "And if you're still hungry, honey, you can just come in and take some of my homemade cookies~! They're on the top shelf, and should be, if Mammon didn't eat all of them yet." There was a small pause, then, "Ohh, and don't believe what others tell you! I don't drug my cookies!" At this, Chrome darted out of the room and immediately tried to find Xanxus's chamber as quickly as possible.

The female Mist Guardian of Vongola didn't really know why she was altogether surprised when she knocked on Xanxus's door, heard a grunt that signaled her to come in (because that was all Xanxus needed to do to let the world know what he wanted), and walked in to see the boss of Varia sitting down languidly in his settee and watching television. His attention was barely on the screen, but he didn't move to look at her either. He didn't say anything, but his lips tightened by a fraction, as if wondering why she had bothered to come into his room. She shuffled over quietly, placing the plate of steak on the small round table beside his chair. He still refused to move an inch. Chrome started to walk away, accepting the fact that Xanxus just didn't want to talk to her.

Until…

"Scum."

Chrome's one visible eye widened as she turned around; was he addressing her? He must have been, because she was the only one in the room besides him. Still, she had a name, didn't she? Was it just out of habit that he was calling her this, or did he honestly regard her as nothing but less than a piece of lint on the ground? Xanxus had finally lifted his head to look at her. Did she do something wrong? She swallowed hard.

"How the hell am I supposed to eat this without a fork and knife?"

Chrome could have let out a tiny sigh of relief if she wasn't so mortified at the moment. So that was all he wanted. She had been so scared of him that she had forgotten she was carrying the utensils in her left hand. Giving him a faint trace of a smile, she nodded. "I have the knife and fork right here, Xanxus-sama." She wasn't sure what else to call him. She placed them neatly beside his plate, dimly wondering if it really mattered which side the fork was on. As she started to leave once more, she couldn't stop herself from adding in a quiet voice. "And my name is Chrome. Please use it." _I don't want to be called "scum". _She knew he heard, for she saw his pupils dilating ever so slightly from the shock of having someone telling him that. She hurriedly bowed and left the room before he could say anything else.

Nighttime fell and Chrome was getting ready for bed. From the time when she left Xanxus's room to now, she couldn't stop herself from thinking if it was really wrong to reproach Xanxus like that. She kept thinking that the Varia boss was probably fuming in his room right now, and that the next day, he was going to order her out of his house. The more she thought about it, the more she didn't really mind. She was, after all, in enemy territory. Ken and Chikusa were probably worried about her sick – not for _her,_ but for Mukuro, since if she survived, the other survived. And they most definitely did not want Mukuro dead. Thinking of this made her a little lonely; maybe no one in this world cared for her at all.

So there she sat, fluffing up her pillow as she got ready for bed. She had managed to sneak into the kitchen to grab some leftovers to eat, so her stomach was no longer screaming at her to feed it. She smoothed her pajamas with the palms of her hands and just as she was about to lie down, she caught sight of someone passing by the opening of the living room. Her eyes flitted up just in time to see the black Varia coat fluttering behind Xanxus like a cape, adding an intensifying aura as he strode by. He was about to pass by the living room as well, but he noticed something that was not part of the usual scenery. He turned his head, and saw Chrome blinking her visible, violet eye at him. He stared back, his eyes focusing on her first, then at the futon on the ground. The corners of his mouth turned down into a stern frown.

For a long while, they held each other's stare. _Why the hell are you sleeping on the ground?_ These thoughts were etched across the expression on Xanxus's face, but the man didn't say anything. For a second, Chrome actually thought Xanxus would open his mouth and tell her to get off the dirty ground, but she thought too soon. "Is something the matter?" she asked timidly.

No sooner did the words leave her mouth did Xanxus turn his heel to leave. He wasn't going to bother with this, and he roughly pushed the prodding thought out of his head. Chrome couldn't help but feel a little twang at her heart when the boss left her sight. She lay down on her side, attempting to forget about that encounter. Really, no one cared for her at all.

* * *

Her sleep did not go well at all. At four in the morning, she was violently jerked out of her sleep by a ferocious roar, given by none other than the Varia's swordsman. "VOOOOOOOOOOOOOI! GET AWAY FROM THAT, YOU MORON!"

Chrome's eyelashes fluttered as she blinked her eyes open. Sunlight streamed in through the wide living room windows, and she was having a hard time adjusting to the lighting. She groaned softly under her breath, taking a moment in deciding whether or not to bury her head back into her pillow to sleep again. She caught sight of Squalo yanking a metal paint can from Bel's hands, and a bit of pink liquid splashed onto the polished floor. Bel snickered loudly.

"I thought the place could use a bit of colour."

"Tch! You said that last time when you decorated Boss's room with flowery wallpaper. YOU," he pointed at Bel vigorously with the tip of his blade, "MADE HIM BURN DOWN THE ENTIRE HEADQUARTERS! WE HAD TO BUILD ANOTHER ONE BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"Ushishishi ~, he burned down the forest around here too. But, well, you know how flammable trees are. They're so weak, just like peasants." Bel tapped his chin with his index finger as he tilted his head to the side. "Now, sharkie, give me the paint before I decide to cut you~!"

"If you can," Squalo sneered. They both took a step towards each other before they noticed the girl on the ground sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She hugged her blanket to her chest, gazing at the two of them with a reproving, unwavering stare.

"You two woke me up."

"The Prince denies waking anyone up." Bel slipped one of his hands into the pockets of his coat, shrugging his shoulders. He pointed in the vague direction of the silver-haired male. "He did it."

"Voi, who are you pointing at? I'll cut your finger off."

This was going to be never-ending. She wished she could sleep somewhere else. Pulling the blanket over her head, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to urge herself to fall back asleep. It was a wonder that Xanxus didn't wake up from all this noise. Squalo's obnoxious roar seemed to echo, echo, echo and bounce off the walls. Perhaps the Varia boss's chamber was soundproof just for this very reason. She didn't want to imagine what Xanxus was like if his sleep was interrupted every morning at four o' clock.

She was already starting to miss Kokuyo Land. At least Ken and Chikusa never bothered her when she was sleeping. She hugged the trident close to her, wondering if that could possibly help. An hour later, she was still trying to sleep, and that was when she realized it was futile to even try. Getting up, she grabbed her clothes and, huffing under her breath, she walked out to change, ignoring the two sparring Varia members. Though she was a little annoyed by this, she didn't allow it to linger. It just wasn't in her nature to.

However, when she realized she wasn't carrying her own clothes, but a pretentiously glitzy maid's outfit, the surprised look on her face instantly turned to horrified shock. Whose idea of a joke was this, really? She quickly tossed it aside, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. Surprisingly, no one was around, but she had a pretty good idea who stuck this into her suitcase. There was no way she was going to go through with this, so she decided to stay in her pajamas for the rest of the day.

But what was even more disturbing was the fact that she woke up with nothing but her underwear and a blanket on top of her the next morning, and the maid costume had been hung on the couch next to her, taunting her. She flushed with embarrassment, but she was thankful that no one was in the same room as her at the time. She knew Lussuria wanted to dress her up really badly, but did he really have to go this far? Sighing under her breath, she weighed out her options and decided that wearing the maid outfit was better than hauling the heavy quilt around with her or staying in bed for the rest of the day.

Bel couldn't stop laughing at her. "Ushishishi ~, what is with that gaudy peasant outfit?"

Chrome huffed under her breath. "I wouldn't wear this if I could find the rest of my clothes." She didn't appreciate the mocking laughter. Mammon watched her with an uninterested stare.

"Have you ever thought of covering yourself with an illusion instead of falling into his trap?"

Chrome blinked, slightly taken aback. She didn't think of that at all until the Arcobaleno had mentioned it. She was just about to thank him when Mammon continued to talk, "Then again, we can see through most illusions, so I wouldn't go through with it unless you're really confident with your skills." The girl closed her mouth and turned her gaze to the ground. Scrap that idea, then.

Levi walked in from the opening of the kitchen and no less than two seconds did he lay his eyes on her, his eyes bulged from their sockets. He pointed at her, a scandalized look on his face. "WHAT KIND OF OUTFIT IS THIS? ARE YOU TRYING TO SEDUCE THE BOSS?"

Chrome didn't know whether to let the offense be shown on her face, so she remained a blank disposition. Why would she want to seduce Xanxus for any reason anyway? She pretty much stayed in the kitchen for the rest of the day, subjected to Bel's mocking laughter and Levi's ogling stare. Lussuria even passed by the kitchen a few one thousand times to comment on the outfit. And then Squalo walked in during late in the afternoon. He looked like he had just come out from the shower, with his long, wet, silver hair clinging to his black clothes. Apparently, his stomach had been too hungry to wait for his hair to dry, so he immediately went to the kitchen. As soon as he caught sight of Chrome's outfit, his usual shark-like smirk quickly switched into a scowl, and he turned around, marching away. Chrome wasn't sure if she should feel offended or not.

Then she heard a very loud, ear-splitting scream: "VOOOOOOOOOOOOI, LUSSURIA, YOU'RE A FREAKING PERVERT!"

It was amazing how one look could tell him who did it.

Moments later, Squalo was complaining to Xanxus, knowing fully well what would happen if he did. Chrome wondered why he was so bothered by this. It wasn't like he had a secret fetish for maids now, did he? It wasn't long until he stormed out of the boss's chamber, hair soaked from the vase that had been thrown against his head. The swordsman glared at Chrome from his towering height, waving the blade of his sword at her before his lip started curling up in a snarl. "Voi, Boss wants you. Go in."

_Me?_ Chrome hesitantly stepped through the doors, knowing better than to disobey the leader of this group. She shuffled in, keeping her legs as close together as possible; the skirt of the maid's outfit was very short. This wasn't befitting on her at all, and from the look on Xanxus's face when he caught a glimpse of her, he didn't think so either. He looked enraged, like such a sight shouldn't even be seen in front of him.

"The hell happened to you?"

The thirteen-year-old girl found that she couldn't even bring herself to tell him that she had been found naked in the morning. It was embarrassing, and it sounded like she was so oblivious and weak that she couldn't even feel someone taking off her clothes in the middle of the night. Then again, these Varia members were very tricky, like ninjas themselves.

"I hope you don't think that's cute," he sneered, sitting up in his chair.

Chrome sent him a withering look. "No. I wouldn't wear it if I didn't have to." She knew that Xanxus couldn't be any nicer than that. He was much different than Tsuna, who was clearly the kinder boss. She shifted uncomfortably. The fabric was itchy, and she so very badly wanted to ask if there was anything else she could wear, but she was too afraid to. Chrome was so busy thinking about this that she didn't even notice Xanxus getting up from his seat and taking deep strides to the side of the room. It wasn't until she heard a light _fwump! _and when white obscured her vision, she realize something had happened. She pulled the cloth off her head and held it out in front of her, staring at it.

It wasn't just any ordinary cloth, but a large shirt. Xanxus's size, no doubt, but on her, it would be a dress, almost. Biting her bottom lip tentatively, she raised her eyes to gaze at Xanxus curiously. "Is this … is this for me to wear?" Gratitude started swelling up in her heart.

"I can't have that shit hanging around headquarters. That can stay in that freak's closet, not on you." He turned his head to the side, glaring pointedly at the washroom across the room. "Change," he ordered. The girl wasted no time in doing so. Minutes later, after struggling with unnecessary amounts of zippers and ribbons, she exited the washroom with the white dress-shirt barely hanging onto her shoulders and loosely hugging her skinny frame. The sleeves were way too long, but so was the rest of everything else of the shirt, so it turned out to be just fine. Chrome was just pleased she had this instead of the maid outfit.

"Thank you, Xanxus-sama," she bowed her head to him out of politeness. When she heard nothing, she turned around to leave. Again, he chose the last second to growl something.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Maybe it was just her, but she noticed that he didn't call her "trash" to get her attention. Then again, he didn't call her by any name in particular. She half-turned her body so that she could peer at him through the corner of her visible eye. "Leaving, Xanxus-sama. I don't want to be a bother to you anymore."

He lulled his head back and murmured in a bored drawl, "Are you stupid or is your brain just incapable of thinking of the obvious?"

Chrome tried not to look offended. She pulled her trident close to her as she turned around to face him again. She knew what he meant, of course. If she went back out to sleep in the same area, Lussuria was bound to pull another stunt like that a second time. What else could she do, though? Not wanting to be called stupid, yet too scared to ask Xanxus for advice, she stood there, trembling. Reminding herself who she was, which would be the Mist Guardian of Vongola, she gathered up her courage and spoke in a soft voice. "Then can I sleep with you?"

She realized how bad it sounded, and when he swung his sharp gaze over to her, she hurriedly corrected herself. "I can sleep on the floor."

A look of incredulity passed Xanxus's face and his frown deepened, if possible. Muttering something under his breath, he pointed smoothly to the sofa he had been relaxing in moments ago. "What kind of cold-hearted bastard do you think I am?" he growled. "I don't make my guests sleep on the floor, and you're not bringing that ugly shit you were sleeping on yesterday into my room. Besides," he turned his face away and Chrome could see the scars again, "I don't want shit between the Varia and the Vongola famiglia just because my family is acting like a bunch of morons."

Chrome winced, nodding. She was never accustomed with people swearing; she didn't like it. Forcing herself to move her feet towards the sofa, she tossed glances over her shoulder to see Xanxus sitting on his bed, getting ready to sleep. He looked tired, annoyed; this was probably from Squalo screaming at him earlier and Chrome felt a little sympathetic towards him. From the looks of the settee, it _could _be a comfortable sleep, but she knew she would much rather sleep in a lying position than a reclined position. Still, there was no arguing with Xanxus.

The moment she was settled into the chair, she was surprised that she could barely hear anything outside the Varia boss's room. Usually around this time, Squalo was still screaming about anything he could possibly complain about, but Xanxus's light breathing was all she could hear. She still couldn't believe that he let her sleep in his room, even if it wasn't on his bed. …_His bed…_ The covers must have been warm, but Xanxus must be lonely, sleeping alone in the same bed every single night. Didn't it get cold sometimes? She sat up, the leather under her creaking noisily. She started blinking her eyes to get them adjusted to the dark.

Bed. Found it.

Dragging her thin blanket along with her, she didn't know what compelled her to do this in the first place. Did she really feel this brave to ask Xanxus if she could sleep next to him? What was going to be her excuse? She couldn't tell him it was because she thought he would be lonely. Tsuna proved to be compassionate because he had a family he cared about. Even if Xanxus treated his family with disrespect, Chrome was sure he cared about them in some little way. Maybe all he needed was a little care back.

She hoped he wasn't asleep yet, because only God knew what would happen if she disrupted Xanxus's sleep. She clung to her trident in the dark, much like a child would cling onto her teddy-bear.

"Xanxus-sama?"

The patterned breathing stopped, and then she heard an irritated little sigh. An irate grunt signaled her to tell him what she wanted.

"…It's cold. Can I sleep in your bed?"

"Tch." There was a soft ruffle of the blankets before the man started talking again. "Get a thicker blanket then, trash."

"It's Chrome," she corrected him indignantly before softening her tone. "And I'm … I don't want to sleep by myself. Not tonight. Not after what happened this morning," she added for extra effect. She crossed her fingers.

"Che, you Vongola brats don't know how to take care of yourselves." She heard more shuffling around. "I'm too tired to argue with you. Sleep on the other side and don't wake me up. Or you'll regret it."

She wasn't expecting him to let her in so easily, but considering how he was tired, she decided it wasn't that big of a surprise. Letting a small smile flitting past her lips, she plodded to the other side of the bed, sitting down. Her light weight barely moved the mattress, but when she swung her feet onto the bed, she heard a barely audible rumble from the sleepy man. "Get your trident off my bed. That freak isn't taking over your body while I'm sleeping and I don't want it stabbing me."

Good enough reason, Chrome thought, as she placed her trident beside the bed. She hoped it wouldn't topple over and stab the two of them while they slept. That would be horrible. As she pulled the covers over her, she smiled comfortably, as if sleeping beside a man who almost resembled an angry caged lion did not compute into her brain. Realizing that this might be the only chance she could ever have a decent conversation with him, she asked in her soft, little voice. "Do you always sleep alone?"

A grunt. Chrome took it as a yes. She didn't want the silence to linger too long, or else Xanxus would fall back asleep and if she decided to speak up then, she would be in real trouble. She tried to think of another question.

"Do you ever feel … lonely?"

"Do I _look _lonely?" He was starting to sound even more aggravated, but even so, curiousity rose inside him. "No." He closed his eyes, scowl etched on his face as he tried to sleep again.

Chrome gripped the blankets on her chest tightly and rolled onto her back. She stared at what she knew was the bed ceiling. "I get lonely sometimes," she admitted quietly. "Even when I'm with my family … and Mukuro-sama."

Xanxus stayed silent.

Chrome knew his situation. He had been adopted by the Ninth and raised up with false hope. She couldn't imagine how alone and betrayed he must have felt when he found out the truth. She thought back to when even her real parents refused to save her life – alone and betrayed.

She suddenly felt a connection with Xanxus, and warmth spread inside her. "You're not alone, Xanxus-sama." She smiled, even though she knew he couldn't see. Somehow, even without words, she still felt a connection between them.

There was a fraction of a pause that might have been from embarrassment or shock. How could Chrome say these things to him? Who did she think she was? However, he was too tired to even snarl a retort back, so he just turned his back on her. "…Shut up. I'm trying to sleep." Even though he said that, he felt, well, better was one way to put it. Chrome didn't know what she was expecting, but she felt a little disappointed. Dismissing the thought for the night, she closed her eyes, and slept.

* * *

Chrome didn't know why, but she woke up feeling absolutely miserable. Maybe it was because she woke up and she was yet again, alone. She didn't know why she was upset about that; it wasn't likely that Xanxus would sleep in, anyway. Still, her eyes stung with hot tears as she buried her face into her pillow.

Staying in bed didn't improve her mood at all. It didn't help that Lussuria decided to walk by and peer into the room. "Yoohoo~! Boss, have you seen – ah, Chrome-chan, there you are. I've been looking for you everywhere."

She didn't answer. Lussuria couldn't have chosen a worse time to show up. She heard light, uneven footsteps, as if the man was frolicking towards her. She turned her back on him and could almost sense the pout on his face.

"What's wrong?" Pause. "Ooh~, isn't that Boss's shirt?"

Hearing that made Chrome sniffle a little. "It's better than the maid outfit you forced on me yesterday."

"Whaat? But I would never~! Oh, no wonder Boss stomped into my room and beat the crap out of me and called me a perverted pedophile. I was starting to wonder what that was about."

Surprised, Chrome rolled onto her other side to face him. "It wasn't you?" She didn't even know what to think anymore. Either Lussuria was lying or someone else in the Varia decided to prank her. Bel seemed to be the most likely candidate, but she didn't believe Lussuria either. Confused, but feeling a little less uncomfortable, she sat up.

Lussuria immediately noticed her red eyes. "Ah, you've been crying?"

Chrome blushed, wiping whatever excess of tears she had left. The eccentrically dressed man tried fitting the pieces together. Chrome was in Xanxus's bed, and she was also wearing nothing _but _Xanxus's shirt, and she seemed to be upset about something, or someone, the latter most likely being Xanxus. Something seemed to click inside his head. "You've developed a crush on Xanxie-chan, haven't you?" He squealed with delight.

This just made Chrome's cheeks darken in colour. "A-ah, no, you've got the wrong idea!" Sure, Xanxus might have been cool, but she swore that her only intention was to get to know more about him, and possibly even get closer to him. The second one was impossible, she knew, but thinking that didn't make it a crush, did it?

"Don't be sad, Chrome-chan," he cooed happily. She didn't know what else she could do to change his mind, so she just let him talk. "Even if he's mean, he doesn't completely hate you." Chrome glanced up, wondering if this bit of information might be helpful. The Sun Guardian's face split into a wide grin. "Hate is just a special kind of love we give to people who suck."

It wasn't a surprise when Chrome's mood got worse. Lussuria didn't understand why, though, but he must have realized that he had been no help at all because he abruptly announced that he had to go comb his hair and hastily scampered out.

After a few more minutes of silence, she forced herself out of bed. Clutching her trident close to her, she shuffled down the hallway that led to the kitchen. When she was young, and whenever she was upset, she ate ice-cream to evaporate her sadness. Even though she had only lived here for a few days, she didn't really think much about asking someone. Luckily for her, no one was in the kitchen, and she slowly made her way to the freezer.

Slouching down, she searched through the freezer, hoping for any sort of ice-cream, but there was none. Disappointed, she started to close the freezer door again.

"What are you doing?"

Gasping in shock, she whirled around to see Xanxus towering over her, his hand on top of the fridge as if he had been about to open it before he saw Chrome's slime figure huddled on the ground. She shot up, her grasp on her trident tightening.

"I…I…"

His stare didn't waver, and Chrome wished he would say something instead of watching her stutter and fidget. She took a shaky breath, steadying herself. "I was looking for ice-cream. Sorry," she added quickly. He glowered at her through those blood-red, intense eyes, and she dropped her gaze to the ground; she didn't want him to know she had been upset.

"We don't have that," Xanxus stated flatly.

"I know," Chrome said hastily. She so desperately wanted to feel better and thinking about this started to make her want to cry again. Coming here was making her so moody; she was thinking maybe it hadn't been such a good idea in the first place. She felt so unwanted here, like she didn't belong. Xanxus simply looked at her, choosing not to say anything. No sign of discomfiture showed on his face, so Chrome wondered what he was thinking of. He was such a hard person to read. After a moment of being held under his over-calculating stare, she saw his jaw muscle tightening, and without a word, he turned around and sauntered away.

_What was that about?_

* * *

Her mood did not get any better during the day. She explored around, but Xanxus had apparently sent them on a top secret mission. She was unaccompanied with nothing to do and even Xanxus was missing for most of the day. She had seen him leave in a bad mood, and she wondered if it had been her fault. She had been snooping in the kitchen without anyone's permission, after all. Still, she couldn't help that she was hungry now, so her feet started to wander back to the kitchen. Again, there was nothing to expect. Lussuria wasn't anywhere here, so there was no food on the table, and she wasn't _so _hungry that she had to try one of his cookies. She sat down by the table and buried her head into her arms.

No sooner did she do that did she feel a sudden thud on the table. Taken aback, she snapped her head up to see something blocking her view. She straightened and blinked – and was astounded to see what was on the table. Xanxus stood in front of her on the other side of the table, his mouth drawn in a firm, unamused, straight line. Chrome followed his arm down to see what he was holding down against the table and realized it was a tub of ice-cream – chocolate ice-cream, which just happened to be her favourite. Her mouth was slightly agape from shock and she didn't move for a while.

"Yours." It was one word but that was all she needed to tentatively reach for the ice-cream. His hand lifted from it and he watched her struggle while opening it.

"Thank you," she murmured softly.

"I didn't buy it," he growled, cocking his head to the side. Chrome glanced up and gave her a reassuring look. She didn't say anything. She would have to pretend that she believed him. Then it made her wonder what the others' 'top secret mission' was, and the idea of them hunting for chocolate ice-cream seemed so ridiculous that she had to throw it out of her head. As if he could read her mind, he muttered, "I told them to stay out. At least the scumbags know how to listen to orders."

Even as he said this, Chrome felt grateful. It was nice, the silence. Besides, maybe the way Xanxus showed his care for others was through being completely blunt and unkind towards them, the opposite of how Tsuna would usually deal with his family. It was weird, but that was how it was sometimes. "They follow you because you're their leader."

Xanxus seemed pleased with the comment; Chrome could see it written all over his smug little smirk, and seeing him like this made her a little happy as well. In the back of her mind, she wondered if he was going to leave her now. Still, he made no notion to move, so she scooped up a little bit of that chocolate dessert and tasted it. It melted in her mouth and she smiled up at Xanxus. Satisfied that she was finally in high spirits, he started to leave.

"Thank you," she repeated, knowing that he fully did not accept her thanks earlier. He stopped in his tracks, half-turned, and Chrome saw the corner of his lips curling in another smirk.

"Hn." He walked away.

If that was the closest kind of acceptance she was going to get, she was more than willing to take it. She could barely keep her mouth from smiling shyly for the rest of the day.

* * *

"Time to go?" Bel eyed the Mist Guardian's suitcases, a prominent grin plastered on his face. Mammon was floating not far up above him, but his expression remained unfathomable. Chrome nodded her head silently, and Bel made a disappointed little sigh. "Now I'll have no one to play with~."

"Play with Levi," Mammon retorted blankly. Bel decided to ignore him. _Who in their right mind would want to play with him?_ The blond thought to himself.

"Thank you for letting me stay." Chrome bowed her head, though she was inwardly hoping she would never have to visit this place ever again. Yes, there were times where she enjoyed it, but overall, she would much rather stay with people she was more familiar with and with people who would not undress her in the middle of the night. She shivered from the thought. Glancing back up, she noticed Lussuria grinning widely and clasping his hands together.

"We're all going to miss you, Chrome-chan~"

"Most of us," Levi countered gruffly, crossly averting her eyes.

"One of us," Squalo corrected spitefully, throwing Lussuria a look. Even though he uttered this, he sent Chrome a smirk. "If you had proven to be a good sparring partner, I might have enjoyed your stay more. Voi, until next time, then."

"Don't bother keeping in touch," Mammon said, touching his small hands together as he scrutinized Chrome from under his hood. "We don't write back."

"You should be happy the Prince even bothered to come down to say goodbye to you~." Bel's grin expanded. "So goodbye, peasant of the Vongola."

An amused smile pulled at her lips. Really, this must be the usual goodbyes for Varia. Maybe some of them were even toned down a little just for her. Then she frowned. Someone was missing. She tried not to feel too disappointed; Xanxus had better things to do than save a few departing words for her. As she started to turn around to leave, a blur of black caught her eye, and she took a double take. Her eye widened when she saw who it was. There were no words that could describe her happiness. He was glaring at her condescendingly, but that was the usual appearance. His hands were stowed deep into his black pockets, he was standing tall and mighty, and his lips were tightened; Chrome knew he would not be saying a word. Of course, Xanxus would never mean as much as Mukuro meant to her, but the fact that he had even bothered to deign to be there when she left meant the world to her.

And then she did the most daring thing any human being could possibly do.

She dropped her suitcases and hugged Xanxus. Gasps ensued around the foyer of the Varia mansion, and Chrome could have sworn she heard Lussuria squeal in astonishment, Bel snickering, Squalo clicking his tongue disapprovingly, and Levi's loud hyperventilating-like gasp which sounded a lot like "_DISGRACEFUL! HOW COULD SHE?"_

She felt Xanxus stiffening at the contact, but he made no move to shove her away. Flushing a light shade of pink, she whispered, "Goodbye, Xanxus-sama." Chrome gave him a comforting little squeeze, then unwrapped her arms from around him and took a step back. He had not moved from his original composure; in fact, the only thing that moved was his eyes, and they were on her.

In all twenty-two years of living, he had no idea anyone would be able to understand why he acted the way he did. Then someone came along, and how was it that she could almost read him like an open book, even if she had no idea she could? It angered him greatly, but Xanxus found there was a strange feeling that built up inside him even though he told himself to reject any sort of kindness given to him. There was a lot he could say right now. There was a lot he could say to _her. _His face hardened, and he broke the stare, turning aside.

He chose to remain silent.

But Chrome understood.

* * *

**AN: **i tried making it as fluffy as i could. ; n; i hope you enjoyed it anyway. ~ the prince. is. out ~! /nowthatirereadit,idon'tthinkit'sthatcute. orz"


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